We interviewed HTLV-I, HTLV-II and demographically similar HTLV seronegative blood donors with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Prevalences of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder in each group were calculated and compared to published U.S. population data. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) controlling for educational achievement, alcohol intake and self-reported health status were calculated with multivariate logistic regression.

We observed slightly higher prevalence of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder among HTLV-I and HTLV-II subjects that was not significantly elevated after controlling for health status and other confounding variables. Comparison to U.S. population data suggested that these findings are in part explained by a “healthy blood donor effect” among our controls.

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